Professor's breast cancer message gets personal

Grace Beahm
The Post and Courier

Dr Marvella Ford is the Associate Director of Cancer Disparities at the MUSC Hollings Cancer Center who just returned to work after a routine mammogram revealed she had breast cancer.

Marvella Ford knows that black women's breast cancer survival rates are lower than those of white women.

But for the associate director for cancer disparities and associate professor in the department of biostatistics/bioinformatics and epidemiology at the Medical University's Hollings Cancer Center, sharing the message and actually experiencing the battle are very different things.

With no history of breast cancer on either side of her family, the odds seemed low that Ford would be diagnosed with the disease. Her annual mammogram told a different story.

"It was time for me to get my regular test, so I went because it's something we know we have to do," she says.

On that visit, Ford was told she had an abnormal mammogram. When she returned for a second test, it showed that she had micro-calcifications.

"Most of the time, this would not be associated with cancer, but this time it was," Ford explains. "The third test was a stereotactic biopsy at Hollings, and that's when they found I had ductal carcinoma in situ, a stage zero cancer."

Because it was caught early, "my doctor says I have a 98 percent chance of being alive and cancer-free in 10 years," she said, just a week after surgery. "I've been there, walked in those shoes, and I do know what a woman goes through when she is diagnosed."

And her experience only strengthens her determination to help women around the Lowcountry and state.

A mammogram takes only a few minutes, and the life- saving potential is priceless. "It's so important for women to get their mammograms," Ford says. "We have improved imag-ing technology to detect breast cancer at a stage that is earlier than ever possible. If you can feel the lumps, then it's probably in an advanced stage. And earlier detection means improved survival."

According to the Journal of the S.C. Medical Association, 590 women in South Carolina died from breast cancer in 2003. In this state, the mortality rate for black women is 43 percent higher than for white women, compared with a national disparity of about 32 percent.

Part of what contributes to the lower survival rate for black women is that they tend to wait longer to get mammograms.

"Fear is a problem that keeps people from getting screened," says Ford. "Black women tend to be diagnosed at later stages, which reinforces the fear factor. If more people are diagnosed at stage zero, particularly more black women, I think the fear and mortality rate will decrease."

The Palmetto State has several programs to help promote early detection, says Ford.

"One of the biggest problems is lack of health insurance coverage. I think that sometimes women think if they don't have health insurance coverage, they can't get treatment," she says. "One of the best things about being in South Carolina is we are part of the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program. The South Carolina DHEC (Department of Health and Environmental Control) created the Best Chance Network," which offers comprehensive breast and cervical cancer services.

Another reason some women don't get tested is because they don't live near a screening site. "We have many rural areas, and distance may prevent women from getting screened," says Ford. "The Mobile Health Unit at Hollings goes out to provide screening to women in those areas."

Ford had a lumpectomy at the end of February. She will undergo radiation therapy for six weeks, five days per week, beginning at the end of March to make sure any cancer cells remaining after her surgery are killed. Her faith and the care she is receiving help her keep a positive outlook.

"We know God is a healer, but he also works through trained medical professionals," she says.

Social support also has helped Ford through her battle, and she believes that such caring is key in beating cancer.

"The support is overwhelming here in South Carolina. It's everywhere you look and I'm really touched by my congregation at Charity Baptist Church in North Charleston," she says.

Ford has received encouragement from her co-workers and friends as well. "Everyone has just been so supportive."